#you’re so right – @residentmiddlechild on Tumblr

"How many times have you manipulated--have you used me to get what you want?!" is interesting because while I'm no expert on the twins I can't recall that many serious instances of him manipulating her besides house of m (which is probably his most serious offense) but outside of that his worst crime was infantilizing (?) her and breathing down her neck all the time and generally being a dick to everyone or in Wanda's own words:

munchkinmarauder

It's writers wanting Wanda to put down a man in her life for "empowerment" even though there are men in her life like Vision or Magneto that actually abused her (Doom counts too but unlike these two he is called out and punished by the narrative for it). Cause "romance is king" and Magneto is popular or some rubbish. Pietro can be overbearing and overprotective but he was never abusive to his sister or used her to get what he wanted, but funnily enough, those other men have. Even if you actually read HoM Pietro more convinced or at worst pressured her than manipulated her. She was also not completely weak willed or mentally incapable of making a full decision either as she shot down several of his suggestions and only relented when he said "give them what they want or we will never be together ever again" (that's significant, leaving her brother alone was not an option and when he was killed was when she reached the end of her teather and snapped). He was desperately trying to protect her because the avengers and X-Men were going to kill her and Magneto was going to let them. It wasnt the right decision by any means and she was vulnerable in that moment but he was the only one standing besides her and trying to protect her, while everyone else was gonna use her vulnerability against her and kill her. He gained nothing from the reality where everyone got their deepest desire except his sister's safety, his daughter wasn't even there!

(the second panel is taken from a period in the comics where Pietro was under the Red Skull's influence btw - leading to Robinson's even shittier writing about the twins than Orlando's though some days it's hard to tell)

Pietro can be overly protective and bossy but it's from a lifetime of having to step up and do that for the both of them. I don't think it's wrong to point out when he goes too far but to make it seem like Pietro was the abusive figure of her life to prop up Wanda or vision or Magneto is kind of a joke when that's never been the case.

The irony of this is if you read their first few years of stories the twins have always had an even partnership. Pietro may have often played the spoksperson but Wanda's decision was always the final one. For the 60s this was extremely significant. Look at how the X-Men treated Jean, the Fantastic 4 - Sue and original avengers -Jan at times. Wanda and Pietro were created as an equal partnership and while not super notable by today's standard that was a hell of a lot more than most female characters got and really progressive for the 60s.

In a way writers doing this "Pietro is mysoginist controling brother to poor gentle Wanda" is less feminist and empowering than they think because they are stripping Wanda of the agency she did have from those time periods and saying it didn't matter. Saying she was weak for having a person in her life she trusted and worked with. They are taking what was intended to be an equal partnership, a relationship of pure platonic love where there were no expectations of each other and just support and tearing it down. All while ironically promoting her relationship with the father figure that physically and mentally abused her, left her to die when she didn't align with his plans or was a burden, murdered her brother, whored her out, let Karakoa spread propaganda about her being the pretender or the love interest that was behind the decision to mind whipe her of her beloved children rather than let her mourn them because she was being a bother, kept gaslighting her about the children not being real, then blamed her for everything wrong in their marriage, treated her coldy and was cruel to her about said children, basically mocked her regarding boys (that were supposed to also be his children) and claiming she was "tricking him" through their relationship. Marvel ignoring these to force her back into "unproblematic happy" relationships with these men is more insulting to Wanda than letting her be close to her brother. Had those men been called out by her, acknowledge what they did wrong and actually work for her forgiveness I would be fine with her building relationships with them but that's not what happened - Wanda just forgives them cause women are forgiving creatures who look the other way when it comes to their father's, husbands and sons (though Billy and Tommy are good boys who have done no wrong here). Do Marvel not see the irony lol? They're promoting relationships and messages that are ironically less empowering for Wanda with the way they are currently forcing her relationships with Vision and Magneto.

It always ignores that Wanda was also as protective of Pietro, sometimes violently so (his murder by their father lead to consequences for all mutantkind- a fact from HoM amongst many others Orlando does not have Wanda mention in issue 1 of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) but women can only be protective over men that are their husbands or sons right? There has always been an inherant sexism in how Wanda is never really allowed to have other men she's close to in her life outside of her romantic relationships once she has a new boyfriend with the exception of her relationship with Jericho (or a dad/child) and Pietro is often framed as an obstacle or competitor to her effections (sometimes never done with Pietro's love interests btw). It's wired, inhertantly sexist and kind of gross.

I do think the twins have a codependency problem. While they've always been close the circumstances of their lives forced them to intertwine with each other in a way most siblings don't have to. They were forced to become each others sibling, best friend, parent, the only family they had left. Each others most intimate relationship. The twins are interesting contrasts to their father because they are so full of love and willing to burn the world for family whereas Magneto would burn them ironically for mutant kind and has done so multiple times. Pietro encouraged Wanda to create HoM out of Love. Wanda decimated Mutants for revenge against their father's ego fueled rage murder of Pietro one of the people she loved the most in the world and one of the few people she had left after losing her sons. She has her father's cold wrath (of the twins I will maintain that while Pietro is the one with the quick temper and bad attitude once Wanda snaps her rage is greater, more malicious and more all consuming than Pietro's ever could be. She is the most like her father out of all her siblings in this respect) . Sidenote: it's interesting how Magneto is equally as pivotal to the events of HoM, his actions or refusal to act spurning his children to make the choices they do but is never held accountable for HoM the way they are (and the way the avengers and X-Men - particularly Emma and Wolverine - never are)

I don't think it's wrong to explore the unhealthy ways the twins codependency manifests. Like Pietro's overprotectiveness coming off as controlling even if he has the best intentions but Wanda's vices are never explored in the same way. She is the good twin and he is the bad and that is boring and makes Wanda's character less interesting. It is also dissapointing to see if you are fans of both twins and their siblinghood how marvel disrespects platonic relationships between siblings in particular and family in general.

Like in the argument here - Wanda has seemingly good and Nobel intentions in burning the letter, if we take the writing at face value, she burned the letter as an act of love (so she could for once protect Pietro like he always has done for her countless times - a fact she mentions twice in the same issue mind you - almost like how dare her brother reject her protection and in a way her love) but ultimately she's in the wrong for making a unilateral decision to do so here. What Pietro says about it ultimately being his decision about whether or not to read it and being able to handle harsh words from Magento is correct. It's interestingly when he hints that Wanda might also be trying to uphold the image of "freshly matyred Magneto and her as his matyred daughter" does Wanda truly start getting mad and yelling back, saying what she can to justify herself. She's not just trying to reason about why she did what she did, she's trying to tear him down and hit him where It hurts here. It should make for an interesting argument and a lot of it does, there is a weight here speaking of a long history between these siblings but the problem is a lot of people and the narrative treat Pietro as being primary in the wrong and cheer Wanda for "putting him in his place". Despite him actually putting forward some good points and not actually being as malicious as Wanda was to him with his own comments to her. Wanda wanting to protect her brother is sympathetic but a good argument is where both sides have a point - again Pietro is the one the narrative seems to be angling as more unreasonable or at least a lot of the internet walked away with that impression. Darcy provides a neutral voice to calm Wanda down, she never says anything bad about Pietro but she never overly defends him or calls out what Wanda did either.

I'm not going to get into the whole Pieto being afraid of Wanda (when has that ever been the case before? He's always stood by her at her worst and advocated that she deserved compassion- something she stopped doing for him the minute writers decided to pair her up with male characters), Pietro saying the world would fall down if she flinches and Wanda saying he goaded her to change the world, manipulated her and mocking his death or even victim blaming him for being "cold to Magneto" (though she does acknowledge Magneto's favouritism of her but in usual Orlando fashion refuses to actually say a bad word about Magneto despite mentioning his murder of Pietro three times in the issue). This is stuff the twins of all people would not say to each other. I don't think Orlando really understands their dynamic, has read HoM or his Magneto bias is just too strong. I've rambled enough.

To lead this all back to the codependency thing, I think an interesting toxic trait of Wanda's that is arising here is her tendancy to show this ugly and malicious side of her and to take her frustrations at a lot of things and yell them at her brother because he's the one person that she doesn't have to be completely controlled around and he's the one person that'll always come back to her and who won't leave her like everyone else in her life has. It would be a fascinating thing if it gets explored and called out. I did get the impression when Wanda was destroying her shop that she wasn't just angry at Pietro - she was at what Magneto wrote in that letter and maybe Magneto himself but it was easier to direct all that anger at Pietro untill Darcy calms her down. Truthfully this might just be my headcannon because I don't think Orlando actually wants to really write Wanda and magneto as being in the wrong.

#oof #you got it man #that was perfect #long post #pietro maximoff #you’re so right #wanda maximoff #quicksilver #scarlet witch and quicksilver #marvel comics #scarlet witch